Deutsche Bank reiterated its “Buy” rating on Johnson Matthey, down 5.6%. Liberum Capital restated its “Buy” rating on the stock.
Liberum Capital reconfirmed its “Hold” rating on Abcam, down 4.5%, with a price target of 1230p.
IQGeo Group, up 9.8%, in its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2019, announced that revenues dropped 36% to £3.6m from £5.7m posted in the same period last year. Its loss before tax widened to £3.2m from £0.6m reported in the previous year, whereas its basic and diluted loss per share surged to 4.4p from 0.8p in the previous year.
Gaming Realms, up 3.4%, announced that it has launched its Slingo Originals portfolio with Malta-based online gambling firm, Kindred Group, across 11 Kindred brands that serves around 25m customers worldwide. Slingo Games will be distributed worldwide through its partner Relax Gaming.
Checkit, down 1.8%, announced that it has changed its name to Checkit Plc from Elektron Technology, after receiving the certificate for its name change from Companies House. Also, Next Control Systems Limited, which was acquired in May 2019, will change its name to Checkit UK Limited.
Sareum Holdings, down 3.9%, announced that it will publish its annual results for the year ended 30 June 2019 on 15 October 2019.
Dialight, down 5.8%, revealed that it has engaged with its top shareholders and has reviewed the key reasons for the low levels of support shown in respect of three resolutions proposed at the Annual General Meeting in April. Dialight stated that the issue relating to remuneration to a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will be now non-recurring, whereas issues concerning pay levels of current CEO and Chair have been addressed and disclosed.
UK markets ended lower last week, weighed down by losses in mining and energy sector stocks. The British economy contracted as expected in 2Q 2019, while the services sector activity fell to a 6-month low in September. Moreover, UK’s construction PMI unexpectedly fell in September, whereas the house price index surprisingly dropped in the same month. The UK government has filed court papers which indicated that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would request the European Union for an extension if Britain fails to reach a deal by 19 October 2019. The FTSE 100 index declined 3.6% to settle at 7155.4, while the FTSE AIM 100 index fell 1% to close at 4399.8. Meanwhile, the FTSE techMARK 100 index lost 1.6% to end at 5283.2.
US markets closed mixed in the previous week. The US non-farm payrolls rose less than expectations in September, whereas trade deficit widened more than expected in August. Also, the manufacturing sector activity dropped to a 10-year low in September, whereas the services PMI eased to a 3-year low in the same month. On the contrary, the US unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to a 50-year low in September, while factory orders fell less than anticipated in August. The DJIA index fell 0.9% to end at 26573.7, while the NASDAQ index gained 0.5% to close at 7982.5.